


The Miraculous One-Time Adventure of Chloé Noir

by Ronoken



Series: The Miraculous World of Caline Bustier [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Caline Bustier deserves a raise, Cat Puns, Chloé Bourgeois Redemption, Chloé Bourgeois Sugar, Chloé Noir, Chloé is the queen we deserve, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Good Chloé Bourgeois, Kind-of POV Chloé Bourgeois, Marinette is trying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-04
Updated: 2020-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:35:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23016379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ronoken/pseuds/Ronoken
Summary: Chloé Bourgeois is not one that people would think needs a break, but those people don't know Chloé Bourgeois.So, what happens when Chloé is forced to make a choice between being who she is normally and who she wants to be? Will she be a friend? An ally? Or dare I say it... A hero?A fun one-shot about Chloé showing off who she is while remaining true to herself. Oh, and there are explosions. So many explosions.
Relationships: Chloé Bourgeois & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: The Miraculous World of Caline Bustier [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1654729
Comments: 60
Kudos: 483
Collections: The What To Do Series





	The Miraculous One-Time Adventure of Chloé Noir

Chloé had issues.

This was a known fact. After all, Sabrina had pretty much laid them all out in public when Chloé had forgotten to get Ms. Bustier a present on her birthday, but still. That didn’t change things. She was impulsive. More than a tad manipulative. Oh, and bossy. Very, very bossy.

On the outside she was, if anyone was trying to peg her, a diet version of her mother. Still, Chloé had a long way to go before she reached that level of monstrous. See, Chloé still had a few annoying traits that she couldn’t shake. Things that she wanted desperately to hide from others, because let’s face it, being the queen bitch took work, dammit. She had one speed in public and she was damned if she was going to throw that all away because of something like _feelings_.

But occasionally, something would get through all her hard work and remind her (and sometimes others) that she wasn’t her mother. Yes, Chloé could be a monster, but that was because she _worked_ at it.

And even though she would never, ever admit it, sometimes it perturbed her that no one knew why.

Which might be why when Chloé heard the voice of her classmate behind her in the locker area she didn’t stop crying. Maybe it was because of the abrasive text message she had just received from her mother concerning her birthday. Maybe it was because it had been a long day and she missed the attention she had gotten from Sabrina before Lila had shown up. Maybe it was because she was just so goddamn tired at that point that she couldn’t bother to try.

Or maybe it was because the voice belonged to the one person in school Chloé knew was going through some worse shit than she was.

“What do you want, Dupain-Cheng? Can’t you see I’m having a private moment?”

I said she stopped crying. I didn’t say she was nice about it.

Marinette had stayed late to help Ms. Bustier organize some files and had been on her way out when she had heard the sound of something slamming into a locker, followed by some soft sobbing. Fearing the worst (the worst being an akuma further adding to her day), Marinette had rounded the corner only to find Chloé with one hand clutching a phone and the other embedded in the side of an innocent locker door.

“Hey, Chloé. Um, are you alright? Did something happen?”

Chloé glanced at her classmate and longtime rival. Granted, she was only a rival because Chloé had _made_ her a rival, but still. Semantics. Marinette was, in Chloé’s mind, the exact opposite of herself. Where Chloé was mean spirited, dominant, cruel, and overall controlling, Marinette had been more, well, human.

“I’m fine,” Chloé said as she stood straight and wiped her tears away. As she looked at the black streaks on her hand, Marinette reached out and handed Chloé a handkerchief for her mascara.

“Chloé,” Marinette said in a voice that almost sounded tired. “Come on. It’s me.”

Chloé glanced at Marinette and debated lashing out with a snide retort, but then she realized there wasn’t a hint of malice or ill will on her classmate’s face, and it was late, and she was exhausted.

“It’s, it’s nothing. It’s ridiculous, really. It’s… It’s my mother.”

Chloé glanced down at her phone and simmered a bit. “I was texting her to remind her that this weekend was my birthday. You know what the first thing she texted back was?”

Marinette bit her lip and shook her head ‘no’.

Chloé gave a shallow laugh and held her phone up. “She just said, ‘So?’ That’s all. As if she was supposed to know what to do.”

Marinette stepped forward and reached out to comfort Chloé, but couldn’t quite bring herself to take her classmate by the arm. This was the girl who had spent most of her life trying to ruin Marinette on some level or another, after all. Still, Marinette also knew that Chloé was a hero. Sometimes. And that she had unintentionally been privy to more of Chloé’s personal troubles than most.

Chloé shook her head and shoved her phone in her purse. “It’s fine, though.” Chloé was already wiping under her eyes and sniffling her feelings back into the Chloé box. “I mean, it’s not the first time, you know? Hell, you _do_ know, don’t you? You and everyone else in this stupid school.”

Chloé was about to go on, but she instead gave a yelp as Marinette grabbed her arm and started dragging her out of the school.

“Dupain-Cheng, what the Hell do you think you’re doing?!” Chloé started to yell.

Marinette didn’t stop or turn around, but Chloé could see even from the side the determined look that had come across her classmate’s face.

“You’re coming with me,” she growled.

“What? Where are we going? Unhand me this instant! I swear, if this is some kind of trick or prank, I’ll get my daddy to shut down your parents rat-infested bakery so fast it’ll…”

Marinette skidded to a halt and spun around faster than Chloé had ever seen her move. Chloé let out a high-pitched ‘meep!’ as Marinette balled her fists around Chloé’s designer yellow jacket and yanked her forward until the two were inches apart.

“Stop it,” Marinette hissed. “Just stop. Today, for once, you are going to act like a decent human being to me. We are going to walk out of this school, raid my parent’s bakery for the box of leftovers my father has hidden behind the counter, march to the park, and you are going to get a birthday treat, I am going to listen to you, and We. Are. Going. To. Commiserate.”

Chloé was stunned. Marinette was nearly snorting with rage. She had never seen her classmate so riled up before, not even when she had gone out of her way to get a reaction.

“Du… Marinette? Are, um, are _you_ okay?”

And just like that, Marinette snapped out of it. She let go of Chloé and jumped back as though she had been bitten. “Oh God, I’m sorry,” Marinette said in a much more Marinette-sounding voice. “I just, it’s been a long day. Well, a long week. I mean, I just, I saw you and thought, ‘hey, this might be a chance to talk to the one person who, um…’”

Chloé held up her hand to stop Marinette. “I get it. I’m the only person who hasn’t been a complete jerk to you this week and this doesn’t really compute for you, so you were trying to do something nice for me. And I threatened you.” Chloé sighed and rubbed her face. “I’m… Sorry.”

“Say what?” Marinette’s eyes went wider than normal as she tried to process that Chloé had just willingly apologized to her. She quickly got over it, shook her head and took Chloé by the hand. “No. Don’t apologize. I stuck my nose in and started dragging you around and then threatened you. I never threaten you. I'm just channeling... Work stuff. I should be apologizing.”

“Ha!” Chloé snorted. “You totally threaten me all the time. Please.”

“Only because you threaten me, first!” Marinette snapped back.

“True,” Chloé said with a shrug. “So, um, not that I want your company or anything, but… Were you serious about those pastries?”

“…Come with me.”

A short walk later, and Chloé found herself sitting on a picnic blanket with the absolute last person on earth she ever thought she would end up spending time with. Marinette was sprawled out, hands behind her head and enjoying the afternoon sun while Chloé downed her third chocolate scone.

“Okay, so don’t let this go to your head, but these are pretty good,” Chloé mumbled as she ate.

“Heck yes they are,” Marinette said with a grin. “I grew up sneaking dad’s scones macaroons, pies, everything. I know I see them through kid-vision, but my parents really are the best bakers in Paris.”

Chloé had to agree. Granted, she would never admit to it beyond this conversation, but credit where credit was due, the scones were killer.

“God, if I had access to all this growing up, I’d be a blimp. How do you stay a rail?”

Marinette shrugged. “I work out?”

Chloé eyed her for as moment and then took another bite of pastry.

“So,” Marinette said after Chloé had finished her scone and chased it with a bottled water. “Is it just your mom that’s bugging you? Anything else?”

Chloé shot Marinette the best side-eye she could. “Okay, first off? What the Hell, Dupain-Cheng? You’ve, like, never cared. I mean, yeah, you care about everyone, but you’ve never really cared about me. Secondly, isn’t the mom thing enough?”

“Mmm,” Marinette hummed. “Well, for starters, you’re right. I care about all my friends.”

“We’re not friends.”

Marinette shrugged. “Eh. We’re here. There are pastries. Close enough.”

Chloé thought on this point. “Fair.”

“Second,” Marinette said as she propped herself up on her elbows. “Sorry, and I know this sounds cruel, but the mom thing isn’t new. I figured something else was feeding this. Is, um, everything cool?” 

“Sure,” Chloé huffed. She crossed her legs and leaned into her hands, cupping her face as she did so. “Everything’s great, except that I, um, got fired. From being a superhero.”

Chloé waited for Marinette to chime in. When she didn’t, Chloé found the silence to be a bit much, so she filled it.

“I mean, I completely snapped during the last battle, got akumatized again, outed a bunch of heroes, stole every miraculous Ladybug had, destroyed her faith in me forever and made her a mortal enemy. Oh, and the worst part of it is now I never get to see my kwami again. So yeah,” Chloé blew an errant hair out of her line of vision. “Everything is totally cool. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool."

“Wow,” Marinette said. “So, were you, like, possessed when all this happened, or..?”

“Nope,” Chloé said as she reached down to pluck a long blade of grass and started rolling it between her thumb and index finger. “I just snapped and tried to burn down everything I had in one stroke. That’s what I do. I'm Chloé Bourgeois. I break things.”

Chloé knew Marinette was staring at her, but thankfully the dark-haired girl had the sense to not chime in at the moment.

The moment passed.

“What’s a kwami?” Marinette asked.

“ _That’s_ what you got from all that?” Chloé asked with a laugh. “God, you are hopeless, Dupain-Cheng. So, you’ve never been given a miraculous?”

Marinette shook her head no. “Ladybug has never given me anything.”

Splitting hairs, but true.

“Well, apparently you’re the only kid in Paris she _hasn’t_ called on. It’s like a familiar that gives you your power.”

“Oh,” Marinette said, nodding. “I guess that makes sense.”

“Her name was Pollen,” Chloé said, a bit softer this time. “She was… She was my friend.”

Marinette was silent for a moment before asking, “Um, have you tried talking to Ladybug about this?”

“HA!” Chloé laughed and leaned back on her elbows. “You think she’ll ever talk to me again? Please. That ship sailed. And sank. I’m… She’ll never let me back in. Not after everything.”

Chloé glanced over at Marinette and scowled. “Wipe that pathetic look off your face, will you? I can’t stand it when people look at me that way.”

“What way?”

Chloé huffed. “Like I need them.”

Chloé stood and stretched. “Well, this has been fun, but I think I’m hitting my bonding limit with you. Honestly, the only reason I was cool with this was because of what you’ve had to put up with lately.”

“Oh?” Marinette asked as she glanced down. “What do you mean by that?”

Chloé looked down and Marinette and crossed her arms. “Oh please. You know exactly what I’m referring to. How has losing everything you cared about been going for you?”

Marinette glared up at Chloé and bit out, “I dunno. You tell me.”

Chloé glanced at Marinette and smirked. “There it is. I’ll let you in on something Dupain-Cheng. When I’ve come at you, I’ve always been upfront about it. I never denied that it was me. When I was there to mess with your life, everyone knew it. And you always gave as good as you got. Hell, that’s the biggest thing I admire in you.”

Marinette’s jaw looked like it had become detached. If she wasn’t mistaken, Chloé had just paid her a huge compliment.

“But this Lila girl? I’ve known people like her. You,” she pointed at Marinette, “can’t win against someone like that. Not the way you are. She knows it, too. She had you pegged the second she got to class.”

“Why, though?” Marinette asked, her voice breaking slightly. “I mean, I tried with her, I really did. She’s just…”

“Evil.”

Marinette shot an eyebrow up at that, but Chloé nodded. “I’m mean it. She’s evil, Marinette. She’s going to keep taking things away from you, just because she can. Ignoring her won’t stop it; you’ll just end up feeding her. Trust me.”

“But why me?”

“Because you’re incredible,” Chloé huffed. “God, do I need to spell it out for you? Everyone loves you. You’ve got unlimited talent with everything you do. You’re the school video-game champion. You’re on a first name basis with the biggest rock legend on the planet. Gabriel Agreste loves your designs. My mother likes you more than me, and screw you for that, by the way. You’re living your best life and it’s infuriating.”

Marinette blushed. “Um, thank you? But why does any of that matter?”

“Because,” Chloé said. “Some people have to claw and crawl to get things. Some people can’t get them unless they buy them. Some people can’t unless they steal them. But some people? Some very lucky people? They get them just because, and that’s you. And those others that crawl and steal? They’ll hate you for it, just _because_ you’re you.”

Marinette looked stunned. Maybe it was because Chloé almost sounded concerned, or maybe it was because Chloé had slipped and used her first name. Whatever the reason, Marinette kept going. “So, what should I do?”

Before Chloé could answer, an explosion ripped through the park. Chloé was knocked to the ground as Marinette covered her head. Around the park, business windows shattered from the concussive force of the blast.

Both girls looked up to see what looked like a clown on a unicycle. He was covered in polka dots and had huge tufts of orange hair. In his hand was a giant squeeze horn.

“Run, you pathetic rubes! I am Sacré Boom, and while you didn’t laugh at my jokes before, my new act will blow you away!”

To emphasize this, Sacré Boom gave his horn a squeeze. A small fireball shot out and slammed into the side of a nearby tree, causing it to explode in a shower of splinters.

“Run!” Chloé screamed as she scrambled to her feet and grabbed Marinette by the arm. A moment later, the blanket they had been sitting on went up in a ball of fire as another explosion rocked the ground behind them. Chloé half-dragged Marinette across the park away from the akumatized clown and didn’t let go until they had scurried behind some now scorched parked cars on the far side of the street.

Chloé glanced over the top of the car. It looked like Sacré Boom was targeting anyone and everyone he could with his bomb horn. Chloé winced as another blast sent a hapless blonde teen boy flying into a nearby car. The teen bounced off the hood and crumpled in the street as the mad clown laughed.

Chloé felt Marinette tense behind her. Spinning around, Chloé barked out, “get out of here! Go and get help. Find Ladybug!”

“I think she’ll figure out what’s going on pretty quick without my help,” Marinette muttered, but Chloé wasn’t paying attention. She had already turned back around and started to move.

“Wait!” Marinette said as she grabbed Chloé’s arm. “Where are you going? You should stay here! It’s dangerous out there! You could get hurt!”

Chloé glanced back at Marinette. “Are you actually concerned about me?”

Marinette was practically tearing up. “Please, Chloé. Just get to safety until Ladybug gets here. Please.”

Chloé took in everything in front of her and felt all of her masks drop at the same time. She smiled. “Thanks for that. I really needed that today. It’s cool, though.” She shook her arm free. “After all, I’m a goddamned superhero.”

With that, Chloé bolted for the unconscious teen. Marinette watched, wide-eyed as Chloé, the self-important, monster in human form, _Chloé Bourgeois_ proceeded to risk her life for a stranger.

Chloé was, for lack of a better word, terrified. She honestly didn’t know what the Hell she was thinking, but that kid had taken a bad hit. Chloé knew that Ladybug and Chat Noir would be here soon, but until they could be on the scene, someone had to do something, or people were going to wind up seriously hurt.

The boy was half-buried under a dented, scorched Audi, and face down. There was something extremely familiar about him, but Chloé was too distracted by the combination of adrenaline and screaming around her to really focus. As she grabbed the unconscious boy by the hand, a silver ring slipped off.

Before Chloé could throw it to the side, a small voice yelled out, “Wait, don’t drop that!” Chloé jumped in surprise as a small, floating black cat swooped in front of her.

“Oh,” Chloé said, her eyes the size of dinner plates. She looked at the cat, then at the ring in her hand, and finally at the boy half-concealed by the car. “ **OH**.”

“I’m Plagg,” the kwami said, his voice bordering on panic. “I believe you know what I am and what that,” he pointed to the ring in Chloé’s hand, “is supposed to be?”

Behind Chloé, there was the sound of another explosion. She turned to see Ladybug swinging in from a nearby rooftop and slamming into the akuma victim feet-first. She spared a glance to where she had been hiding a few moments ago and thankfully, Marinette had listened to her and ran for cover.

"Your owner needs help. Is he dead? We should get him to the hospital."

"Nuh-uh," Plagg said. "The ladybugs will fix this and him. He'll be alright; he's just out for the count."

Chloé glanced over to the fight, where Ladybug was blocking exploding projectiles with her spinning yoyo. “She needs help,” Chloé said.

She rolled the ring in her hand as Plagg yelled out, “then put the ring on! Say, ‘Plagg, claws out’, and help her already! I know you know how this works!”

And she wanted to. _God_ , she wanted to. She watched as Ladybug swung her yoyo at Sacré Boom, who was bouncing out of the way on his unicycle. He was giving as good as Ladybug gave, and from the frantic looking around Ladybug was doing, Chloé knew she was expecting her partner.

“I don’t… I don’t know if I should,” Chloé finally admitted. “I was the one who stole all the miraculous. I told Ladybug we were enemies. How is she supposed to trust me out there? What if she..?”

Plagg floated up to Chloé and slapped her in the face. Now, while that sounds bad, he has very tiny arms and honestly she was more stunned by how cute it was than anything else.

“Now look here, Chloé Bourgeois,” Plagg growled in his most intimidating voice.

 _‘Oh my God, he is ADORABLE’,_ Chloé thought to herself.

“Are you or are you not the holder of the Queen Bee miraculous?”

That got Chloé to sit upright.

“Well?!”

Chloé nodded and said, “But, she took it from me. I lost the right to…”

“Dang it, while I appreciate that you’ve managed to grow a soul and are experiencing a moral conflict, THIS IS NOT THE TIME. Now put on the damn ring and go beat down bozo over there before my owner dies of blood loss!”

Chloé put the ring on.

“Plagg, claws out!”

There was a rush of green light, a surge of power and adrenaline, and suddenly Chloé felt alive again. She felt… _Miraculous_.

“Oh my God,” she sobbed. “I’ve missed this. I’ve missed this so hard. I… Focus Chloé,” she said to herself. She stood and reached to her hip for her staff. It reminded her of her own miraculous, but different. The costume, from what she could tell, was similar to the regular one worn by Chat Noir, but her hair was in an unreasonably long ponytail.

“I like it,” she murmured. “It’s lighter on the shoulders than my regular outfit.”

As she commanded her staff to propel her towards the fight, she couldn’t wipe the smile off her face.

Ladybug had just somersaulted backwards away from a swipe from Sacré Boom when she saw a familiar metal rod shoot between the spokes of the mad clown’s unicycle, sending the akumatized man flying into a bush. She turned to greet her partner.

“Good timing, Chat Noir. I…”

And stopped cold.

Chloé commanded the staff to retract back to her hand, twirled it around her and brought it to rest just behind her back. “Purrfect day for the circus, wouldn’t you agree, Ladybug?”

Ladybug nearly choked.

“What the HELL?!”

Chloé shot her hero a sheepish grin. “Hi! I’m your substitute Chat Noir for the day. Go team?”

Ladybug growled and was about to ask a million questions, but Sacré Boom had already gotten upright and was taking aim at the red and black super-heroine. Ladybug was still distracted, but Chloé was not. She dove towards Ladybug and screamed, “look out!” just as a bomb went flying. Chloé slammed into Ladybug full force and pushed her out of the way of the projectile.

However, she wasn’t fast enough to save herself.

Ladybug watched in horror as the bomb exploded right in the middle of the new Chat Noir’s chest, sending her flying across the park and through a storefront. “Chat!” She screamed as she took off towards her new partner.

“That’s right, run while you can!” Sacré Boom laughed and shot his bombs into the air. “This is just the intermission before my final act! I… I’ll get the stupid miraculous! Quit distracting me! I’m performing here!”

Ladybug said a silent thank you to whomever was listening that Hawkmoth couldn’t shut up during a battle.

“Chat Noir, are you here? Answer me!” Ladybug swung her yoyo and cleared out a wide swath of rubble from the storefront as she searched for her teammate. Nearby, she heard a groan from under a crumpled display case. Quickly, she flung it aside to reveal a scorched and dirty Chat.

“There you are! Are you okay?”

Chloé shook her head to clear the ringing in her ears and grinned. “Yes. HELL YES. I just took a bomb to the chest! I…owowow.” Chloé had done a fist pump into the air to celebrate, but then her ribs reminded her that they were still there and probably bruised.

“Hey, take it easy,” Ladybug said as she put her arm around her new partner. “You took a direct hit. You shouldn’t have done that. We’re tough, but not invincible. That was so stupid! I would have been fine.”

“No, you wouldn’t have,” Chloé said as she stretched to try to get rid of the pain. It wasn’t helping. “You would have stood there with your mouth hanging open and taken that bomb to the face, and then I would have been stuck doing this alone. Don’t argue! I know how you get.”

Ladybug raised an eyebrow at that, but Chloé shrugged it off. "Besides, I’m Chat Noir,” she said with a feline grin. “Protecting Ladybug is my job.”

Ladybug blushed as she glared at Chloé. “Your job is to help me win, so let’s get to that, shall we?”

Chloé nodded. “Agreed. So, why don’t you do that lucky charm thing? I’m acting cool here, but I seriously think I’m bleeding internally and I don’t feel good.”

A quick yell and a flash of light later, and a giant foam finger was resting in Ladybug’s hands.

“Going to a football game after this?” Chloé quipped.

Ladybug glanced at the finger, then at Sacré Boom, and finally at Chat.

“Okay, so this is gonna sound kind of stupid, but I think it’ll work.”

“CITIZENS OF PARIS!” Sacré Boom, meanwhile, had grown tired of waiting. He was pointing his horn upwards as a mass of dark red energy was beginning to form around it. “It is time for my final act! If Ladybug and Chat Noir do not give me their Miraculous, I will send off a blast that will take out the entire city!”

The dark red energy started to grow around the edges of the horn. Sacré Boom was done fooling around.

“Well ladies?” Sacré Boom called out to the shattered storefront. “What’s it going to be? Are you going to join me in my finalé, or bow out gracefully?”

“We’re here,” Ladybug called out as they stepped out of the rubble. Sacré Boom smiled, but he didn’t stop charging his horn. Instead, he pointed it towards the two heroes.

“How wise of you,” he said with a toothy grin. “Now, if you would be so kind, please hand over… Yes, yes, I know! Look, who has the giant bomb horn right now, you or me?”

Ladybug tensed as Sacré Boom started yelling at the purple moth outline that had appeared in front of his eyes. “Now,” she said as both ladies broke into a full sprint.

Sacré Boom, momentarily distracted, suddenly realized what was happening. His eyes went wide as Ladybug charged headlong towards the glowing cannon in his hand, only to reach forward…

…And jam the giant foam finger into the horn.

Chloé was honestly surprised. Granted, half the time the lucky charm resulted in something that in any other situation would have been pretty dumb, but this? This was almost comical.

“Hey, no fair!” Sacré Boom tried squeezing his horn, but the finger held.

 _‘Right, he’s a clown,_ ’ Chloé thought to herself with a groan. “This is so dumb,” she muttered.

Ladybug yelled at her, “Just go with it!”

“Fine. Cataclysm!” Chloé screamed as she brought a handful of dark energy down on the horn. Instantly, it eroded and cracked, revealing a dark purple butterfly.

Chloé relaxed and let her body uncoil as Ladybug purified the akuma and threw her foam finger into the air. A swarm of ladybugs later, and suddenly her ribs felt a thousand times better.

“Where am I” a confused clown asked. He was sitting between the two ladies who looked to him, and then to each other. Without even thinking about it, they bumped fists.

“Pound it!”

 _God_ , it felt so good to be back.

“You were akumatized,” Ladybug said as she helped the clown to his feet. He dusted himself off and looked around.

“Oh dear,” he said with a frown. “I guess I was mad about having to cancel my afternoon performance. The children at the hospital would have loved it, but I was told they didn’t have it in their budget for a performance, and this was after I promised the kids I would be there. Oh! Please tell me I didn’t hurt anyone, did I?”

Chloé glanced over to where the teenage boy had been, but he was already gone.

“No, sir. You’re fine,” Chloé said. “In fact, I have a way to help you do your purrformance, if you’re still up for it.”

The clown nearly started crying. “You, you mean it?”

Chloé nodded. “Sure do. Give me one hour and then roll your unicycle-butt over to the hospital. They’ll be waiting for you. I promise.”

“Oh, thank you. Thank you!” The clown shook both their hands before gathering his unicycle and horn. He took off in the direction of the hospital as Chloé watched, a small smile on her face.

Ladybug glanced to her new partner with a smile. "Cat puns?"

"Deal with it. It's part of the power set," Chloé said with a shrug.

"No it's not." Ladybug said with a sigh.

"You can't prove it."

The moment was cut short by a beep from her finger. Ladybug put her hand on Chloé’s shoulder and said, “we’d better get somewhere safe. Is… Is Chat okay? Did something happen to him?”

Chloé flashed her best Cheshire grin at Ladybug. “Not to worry. I’m just the convenient stand-in. Your regular feline friend will be back before you know it.”

Ladybug bit her lip. _‘Why does that look so familiar?_ ’ Chloé through to herself.

“"When you took his ring, did you, do you know who he is?” Ladybug asked. 

‘ _Oh_ ,’ Chloé thought to herself. _‘So they don’t know each other outside of work? That’s a lot to unpack.’_

“Don’t worry about it,” Chloé said. “I have no idea who he is, and vice versa. We’re cool, bug.”

Ladybug looked like she wanted to ask more questions, but the beeping from her earrings cut them both off. Chloé glanced at them and thought, _‘Damn. I know I’ve seen a pair like that before. This is going to keep me up all night.’_

With a nod, Ladybug threw her yoyo and in the blink of an eye, she was gone cross the rooftops. Chloé watched her leave and then took off for the nearest alleyway.

Once she was sure she was alone, she took a breath and a moment to appreciate a job well done. “Okay,” she said to herself. “So, I said claws out to activate, but he didn’t tell me… Hmm. Claws… In?”

There was a flash of light, and just like that, Chloé was back to normal again.

Plagg floated in front of her and came to rest in her outstretched hand. She slipped a chocolate scone that she had palmed earlier out of her jacket pocket and handed it to the hungry kwami, who devoured it in three seconds flat.

“It ain’t cheese, but I’ll take it,” Plagg said. He glanced at Chloé and saw the look on her face. “Hey. You did good out there, kid. You did really good.”

Chloé let out a laugh. “Please, kwami. I did _well_.”

“You did both.” Plagg floated in front of Chloé and seemed to consider the blonde for a moment. “For what it’s worth, you were a good Chat Noir. And don’t let it go to your head, but I always thought you were a good Queen Bee.”

Chloé felt every sarcastic comment she had die on her tongue. “Is… Is Pollen okay?” A beat. “Does she forgive me?”

Plagg smiled and nodded. “She thinks you’re the best, Chloé Bourgeois. She always has.”

Chloé felt herself start to tear up but sniffed it back. She could cry later when she was alone. She wasn’t about to start blubbering in front of a kwami, let alone one that wasn’t hers.

She slid off the ring and handed it to Plagg. “You know how to get back to your owner?” She asked.

Plagg nodded. “Yeah, I’m good. See you around, kid.”

And with that, Chloé found herself alone.

***

School the next day started like usual, but when Ms. Bustier went to take attendance, she nearly counted Chloé missing. It wasn’t until she glanced at the back of the class and saw her sitting next to an extremely confused-looking Marinette that she was counted as present.

 _'Huh,'_ Caline thought to herself. _'So, that's a thing now, I guess.'_

“Um, you okay?” Marinette asked under her breath. “You never willingly sit by me. Ever.”

Chloé glanced around the room, glaring at the back of Alya’s head before tossing a sad look over towards Sabrina. “Someone has to,” Chloé muttered.

“Good morning class,” Ms. Bustier called out. “Let’s start the day by complementing each other. Who would like to go first?”

To the shock of both Ms. Bustier and the class, Chloé raised her hand.

“Marinette and I would love to,” Chloé called out.

Alya turned a full 180 degrees in her seat and mouthed _‘what the Hell’_ as both Chloé and Marinette stood up and made their way to the front. Chloé marched like she was leading a parade, while Marinette nervously sauntered behind her.

They stood facing each other for a moment as Chloé smirked. Marinette tensed up, ready for something cruel to come out of Chloé’s mouth, but to her surprise, the blonde shot a glare towards Lila.

And then she grinned.

“Marinette. You are an amazing person, and I wanted to thank you so much for setting up a private lunch for me with Jagged Stone. He had a lot to talk about, actually. Did you know he’s never had a cat?”

Marinette blinked several times in confusion while the class around them began to murmur. Out of the corner of her eye, Marinette noticed that Lila was glaring hard at Chloé.

Marinette bit her lip as she thought about what to say. She was so focused that she didn’t see Chloé’s eyes on her mouth, as if she was remembering something. Suddenly, those eyes went so wide they were about to fall out of their sockets. Had this been a cartoon, Marinette might have noticed a light bulb flickering to life above the blonde’s head.

“Um, thank you, Chloé. I think… I think you’re one of the bravest people I’ve ever met. Thank you for saving my life yesterday during the akuma attack. You were a real hero.”

Chloé snapped out of whatever thought was screaming throughout her mind long enough to focus on Marinette’s words for a moment, and in that moment, Marinette saw a genuine smile flash across Chloé’s face. Then the moment passed, and Ms. Bustier sent both students back to their seats.

It did not escape Chloé’s attention that Lila was glaring at her for once, and not Marinette.

 _‘Bring it, bitch,’_ she thought to herself with a smile.

***

Later that evening, after the Ladyblog had filed an exclusive cell phone video of the all-new, all-different Chat Noir (which Chloé had watched no less than a dozen times), Chloé was crashed out on her balcony. She was lounging in a recliner, sipping a chocolate shake and enjoying the city lights when she heard the sound of something coming to rest behind her. Curious, she sat up and turned to look.

Chat Noir and Ladybug were standing right behind her.

Chloé yelped and fell out of her recliner. She would have spilled her shake, but Chat Noir caught it on the end of his staff, keeping it impossibly balanced as he gingerly tossed it onto a side table. Not a drop was spilled.

‘ _Showoff_ ,’ Chloé thought to herself.

“What are you two doing here?” Chloé asked with a bit more venom than she had intended. “Are you here to lecture me on playing with other people’s toys?”

Ladybug smirked and shook her head. “The opposite, actually. We wanted to thank you, and to make sure you were okay.”

“…Oh,” Chloé squeaked out. She turned so they couldn’t see the red that was creeping across her cheeks. “Well, you’re welcome.”

She heard the sound of Chat Noir clearing his throat. Hesitantly, she glanced over her shoulder and asked, “So, um, are you okay? You looked pretty bad earlier.” Chat blanched as Chloé turned and quickly put her hands out in front of her. “Not that I looked! I didn’t! I mean, I saw half of you, but not the, um, head half? You’re good. I have no idea who you are but, you looked, um, you looked really bad when I found you. Lotsa blood. Do the ladybug’s just put that back, or..?”

Ladybug shrugged. “Honestly, I have no idea.”

Chat grinned. Chloé noticed he was rubbing the back of his head from what, nerves? Embarrassment? Again, why was this so damn familiar?

“Yeah, I had taken a pretty bad hit. Plagg told me what happened after the ladybugs fixed me up. Um, thanks, Chloé.”

Chloé remembered her conversations with the kwami and blushed some more. “Dammit, don’t make a big deal out if it. Least you got your stupid ring back.”

“It is a big deal,” Ladybug said as she stepped forward. “Also, I heard that the mayor threatened to pull the children hospital’s funding if they didn’t honor the contract they had with their entertainers.

Chloé made a dismissive motion with her hands and harrumphed. “Seriously, what kind of slipshod institution doesn’t pay for its workers? It’s ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous! So yes, I might have… Leaned on daddy a bit. What about it?”

Ladybug sighed, but it didn’t sound like a frustrated sigh to Chloé. Instead, it sounded resigned. Almost familiar. Ladybug cleared her throat and said, “I… Look. You and I haven’t always been on the same page. That’s partially my fault.”

Chloé crossed her arms and shot Ladybug a look, unsure of what was happening. “Go on,” she muttered.

Ladybug stared Chloé down for a minute and then blurted out, “Why did you try to take the miraculous from me?”

Chloé’s eyes went wide as her whole body went rigid.

“I…”

“Dang, we’re doing this now?” Chat Noir asked. Ladybug elbowed him in the ribs, but did not break eye contact with Chloé.

Chloé turned away from them again and hugged herself. It was suddenly very cold out on her balcony.

At least, it felt that way to her.

“I wanted to be special.”

She waited for Ladybug or Chat Noir to chime in, but both waited patiently for her to continue.

“My whole life, I’ve been told how great I am,” Chloé said in a voice that was just a click above a whisper. “Daddy tells me I’m a princess. I’m given whatever I want. Everyone does what I say, when I say it because they’re paid to. I’m in charge and I deserve it, but…”

Chloé shuddered and took a deep breath. The bomb to the chest had been easier to take than this.

“But it’s not true. If I was so special, then my daddy would be able to talk to me without sounding scared. He can’t wait to run away from me. If I was special, my mom… My mom would love me. If I was special, Sabrina would still be my friend and not… I can buy all the attention I want, and that’s fine most days, but that doesn’t make me special; it just makes me spoiled. But with the miraculous, with Pollen… God, you understand, don’t you? You have to! You have them, you know what it’s like! That feeling of being good enough? Of being accepted and loved? Having someone right there who is always there for you? Who never leaves. She… She was the first person who told me she didn’t want to leave.”

Chloé covered her face with her hands as the tears started to well up. She figured they saw where she was going, anyway. She turned away from them and continued.

“I wanted to be loved. And trusted." She sniffled as she kept her eyes covered. "And I’ve given so much for you, and no matter what, it’s never, ever enough. In that moment, all I saw when I looked at you was someone like my parents. I saw someone who didn’t really care; you gave me something to make me useful and then were ready to take it away and forget about me. And… And I snapped.”

“…”

“…”

“And… And I’m sorry.”

She heard something behind her, mutterings, whispers. There was the sound of something hitting the ground and whizzing away. When Chloé looked up, only Ladybug was there.

“Where did he go?” Chloé asked, confused. “Was that too much for him?”

“No,” Ladybug said. “It’s just, I told him this was more of a girl talk situation. He took the hint.”

Chloé snickered. “But you hate me.”

It did not escape her attention that Ladybug paused before answering.

“You and I are different,” Ladybug said at last, “but I think that if things in your life hadn’t been what they were, we might not have been so different after all. We might have even been friends. Forget what happened before. Forget how you act in public. Today, when the attack happened in the park, the first thing you did was get Marinette to safety. When you saw someone hurt, you ran out into the line of fire to make sure they were okay. You respected the privacy of a miraculous holder, and you risked your life to protect me.”

“Of course I did,” Chloé said with a tired laugh. “Like I said to,” She glanced at Ladybug. “…To Marinette; I’m a goddamned superhero.”

Ladybug walked forward and put a hand on Chloé’s shoulder. “You really are a hero, Chloé. Under everything else, you’ve _always_ been a hero.”

Chloé sniffled and shut her eyes tight, trying to fight back more tears. After some effort, she finally forced her best angry face out and said, “Then why did you take Pollen away? Every time. Every single time, you would come back and rip her from me. If I’m such a hero, then why wasn’t I good enough?”

“Because at the time, it wasn’t my decision to make.”

Ladybug took a step back. She took a breath, and Chloé watched as Ladybug’s face told volumes about what was going on behind the mask. Finally, the hero nodded to herself and locked eyes with Chloé.

“But it is, now.”

Chloé’s eyes went huge as Ladybug reached into her yoyo and pulled out a small, red and black spotted box.

“Chloé Bourgeois, here is the miraculous of the bee, which grants the power of subjugation. Can I trust you, now and from this day forward, to wield it in the name of justice and fight by my side?”

Chloé couldn’t answer. The tears were pouring down her face at this point. She could barely see to take the box from Ladybug’s hand and open it, revealing a familiar comb.

“My queen,” a small voice said.

Chloé scooped the little kwami out of the air and pressed her close to her cheek. She felt the tiny creature nuzzle her back. “Thank you,” Chloé choked out, over and over. “Thank you.”

“It is good to see you, too,” said Pollen.

“You… You’re sure about this?” Chloé asked, looking up at Ladybug. “I mean, I get it. You don’t like me.”

Ladybug shrugged. “So, like, half the time I want to string Chat Noir up for his puns, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s a hero and that I trust him. I _trust_ you. That’s enough for me. As for friendship? We can work on that.”

Ladybug let her yoyo fly across the skyline until it hooked onto the side of a building. As she gave it a tug, she looked to Chloé and said, “So, um, yeah. One last thing. I checked on the others that were in the park yesterday, including that girl you were with. Marinette.”

Chloé stared deadpan at Ladybug for a moment before raising an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Yeah,” Ladybug said with a slightly nervous smile. “She asked if I could tell you that you’re invited to her house this weekend for dinner and cake. Maybe some video games? She stressed something about an all-access pass to the bakery. Is there, um, something special going on?”

Chloé laughed and wiped the tears from her cheeks as Pollen floated beside her. “It’s my birthday. I guess, I guess I could bother to make an appearance. If you could tell her. If you see her.”

“If I see her.” Ladybug smiled and saluted her newest permanent partner. “Well then, happy birthday, Queen Bee.”

A quick tug, a leap, and Ladybug soared over the skyline, disappearing around a bend in a matter of moments.

Chloé watched her leave and smiled. Not her vicious smile, not her I’m-better-than-you smile, but a genuine smile.

A friend smile.

“Thanks, Dupain-Cheng.”


End file.
